ANIMAL'S LOVER

I started the project “different friendship” in 2015 trying to express the special relationship that some people establish with what I would call “unusual pets”.

It surprised me to discover how much feeling and intimacy can be shared between people and animals and how many are the people who really care about this kind of special relationship.

So far, I’ve been working close to my own town, in Northern Italy. I came in contact with animal sanctuaries, vegan activists or with people who were just people who are fond of animals.

Many of them have an interesting story to tell, some of them entered in a factory with a balaclava in the middle of the night to save a pig, another one explained me how he deeply loves toads because he's so proud of their survivor spirit.

I’d love to extend the work in places with warmer temperatures, such as Mexico (or Madagascar), where exotic species live naturally.

Recently, I’ve started - together with the journalist Laura Filios - “Bug’s Lover”.

“Bug’s Lover” is a new chapter of the project dedicated to animals: I’m discovering a big community of people who are involved in the unexpected world of insects.

According to FAO reports we all will eat insects sooner than we think. They are already in our future but we, western people, still have a kind of repugnance toward them.

So in addition to continue reporting special friendship with unusual animals I’m going to focus also on insect breeders (or simply, insect lovers). These people - who often have a personal and even tender relationship with them - could explain how important bugs are for our planet, their beauty and character.

Every portrait should speak by itself a personal story, it should show an unexpected connection that human could have with different species.

The picture of the animal could be with or without including the physical presence of the human but they should suggest an interaction and a sort of “comfort feeling” with the human world.

The style wants to be poetical and surreal but at the same time real and documentary to have a taste of the daily life of such peculiar friends.

The next subjects are a couple of twins who dedicates his life to breed crickets to eat-mostly for environmental reasons, a girl who can’t stop her family of 30 tortoises to grow and chameleons.

This snake, an Anilius scytale, lives with a tattoo artist close to Turin, Italy

Letizia the goose has formed a special friendship with Sgambati's mother, Nirvana.

Donatella, butterflies breeder, close to Rome

Sgambati breeds pedigree rabbits. She knows each of them by name.

Lorena, an activist with Animal SOS, has dedicated her life to saving animals from abusive situations. She is taking care of Bea until she finds the pig a proper home.

Milan

Monica and her husband live with alpacas in Mondovi, Italy. They have lots of open space to roam.